Toronto: Although it already conducts a range of stakeholdering activities, the Ontario Power Authority will soon move to set up a formal Stakeholder Advisory Committee to collect input on its plans and operations.
A directive issued by Ontario Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli on June 25 made the establishment of a new committee an official obligation of the agency. Minister Chiarelli pointed to the successful example of the IESO’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee and said that the OPA committee could be structured similarly to the IESO’s. The OPA’s founding legislation (the Electricity Act) in fact calls for the OPA to establish one or more processes by which stakeholders, including consumers, distributors, generators, transmitters and others may provide advice and recommendations for consideration by the OPA.
A key consideration cited by the Minister in his letter of direction was that the OPA Board give special attention to “how (stakeholder) recommendations are efficiently and effectively integrated into the decision-making of the OPA.”
The Minister suggested the OPA Board members attend meetings of the new committee and asked that the OPA try to have the committee established by the end of summer 2013.